The Yamim Tovim are over and we’re back to “real life.”

But what exactly is real life?

During every Succos we are challenged to believe that Hashem can and will protect us wherever we are; no less in a flimsy wood or cloth hut open to the elements than in a fortified garrisoned stone castle. And it is a challenge. Our eyes are telling us the castle is a million times stronger and safer. But that’s an illusion. The wooden hut over which Hashem spreads His protection is the safest place on earth far safer than that castle. Our eyes tell us one thing. Our heart and soul tell us another.

The word “reality” is from the 1540s originally a legal term in the sense of “fixed property.” The use of “reality” to mean “real existence” is from the 1640s.

It’s hard to see clearly in This World. Forget Van Gogh and Rembrandt. Hashem is the best Artist in the world the Master of making the unimportant look important and illusion look real. How often do we attribute great importance to the ephemeral things of This World while nearly and neatly ignoring those that are our tickets to the Next World?

The Hebrew word for reality is metzius from the same root — mem-tzaddi-aleph — as “to find.” Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch defines it as: “find deliberately bring out.” Metzius is a metziah a real find. Because as opposed to illusion reality is pretty hard to locate. Like common sense which is anything but common.

If we’re not committed to seeking the real truth and nothing but the truth we won’t find it. It’s hard to find something we’re not looking for.

Rav Eliyahu Dessler says the only difference between nature and miracles is their frequency.

“The whole concept of ‘nature’ is thus nothing but a test for the human being. Nature has no objective existence; it is merely an illusion which gives man a choice to exercise his free will: to err or to choose the truth.” (Strive for Truth)

Last Shabbos we read Parshas Noach:

“This is how you should make the ark: 300 amahs long 50 amahs wide and 30 amahs tall.” (Bereishis 6:15)

Rabbi Ben Zion Shafier:

“The commentaries ask: why do we need to know the exact dimension of the ark Noach built?

“Rabbenu Bachya answers that the Torah delineated the size of the teivah to teach us a lesson. Assuming that an amah is a measurement of approximately two feet the entire construction was not large: 600 feet long 100 feet wide and 60 feet tall. When we put those dimensions into perspective it becomes obvious that it would not be possible for all of the animals in the world to fit into such a small area.

“Noach was commanded to gather up every species of living creature … So many animals could not possibly fit into so small a craft. Even 50 such arks couldn’t house all the animals in existence let alone the food and supplies needed to support them for almost a year’s time.

“And so Rabbenu Bachya explains that we are being taught a significant concept: Man must act in the ‘Derech HaTeivah’ the ways of the world. Man is commanded to do that which is in his power and only when he has exhausted all his means is he allowed to rely on a miracle. Noach couldn’t possibly have built a vessel large enough to house all living creatures. Yet he was commanded to do as much as he could and then rely on the miracle to fill in the rest.

“This concept is the operating principle for our lives …. 

“Our hishtadlus (efforts) and our bitachon (trust in Hashem) have to be balanced. A person must use the Derech HaTeivah acting as if his efforts will determine the outcome all the while knowing that everything is entirely controlled by Hashem. (Bitachon And Effort: Finding The Balance Jewish Press October 26th 2011)

So why spend 120 years building this sizable ark? I remember learning that this was because it had to be just big enough to allow the onlookers (and plenty passed by over 120 years) to believe if they chose that it was not a miracle and there really was enough space for all.

The illusion had to look real. There had to be room for disbelief. Otherwise free choice would be suspended. And what looks more real than a huge ship? Only those committed to finding what’s really real believed in the miracle and were saved from the flood.

“Look and you will find it — what is unsought will go undetected.” (Sophocles)

In modern life and the modern world we’re exhorted to “get real” and “be realistic” but what does that mean to a Torah Jew? It means being committed to see beyond the illusion that Hashem is painting for us.  

The modern Hebrew for real is amiti from the root aleph-mem-taf. That’s also the root of the word emes. Real to a Jew means truth.